The First American Regiment- Two depictions by the late, great H. Charles McBarron. 1. First America
The First American Regiment- Two depictions by the late, great H. Charles McBarron. 1. First American Regiment, 1786. 2, Officer, First American Regiment, c. 1784. In the aftermath of the Revolutionary War, congress disbanded the Continental Army, claiming “standing armies in time of peace are inconsistent with the principles of republican government, dangerous to the liberties of a free people, and generally converted into destructive engines for establishing despotism.” However, the necessity of guarding the new nation’s frontier meant that some standing army, however meager, must be maintained. In 1784, congress authorized the creation of the First American Regiment, with an authorized establishment of 10 companies, 8 of infantry and two of artillery- amounting to a paltry 700 men! The nascent United States Army was initially clad in surplus uniforms of blue cloth faced red and lined white, such as had been laid down for the Continental Army in 1782. On their cocked hats, soldiers at first wore the so-called ‘union cockade’ of white on black ribbon, symbolic of the Franco-American alliance during the revolution. This is depicted in the second picture. In 1785 the old cockades were replaced with more practical, and more 'national’ ones of black leather. Sources: http://memory.loc.gov/ll/lljc/027/0000/00710433.tif http://www.history.army.mil/books/RevWar/ss/peacedoc.htm James Kochan. The United States Army 1783-1811. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2001. -- source link
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